BreakFree Fortitude Valley

Check-in was very helpful, and the room was a good size. The location was great, within walking distance of Emporium and James St, and the Foxtel channel selection was good. The bathroom was clean, with no odd stains or smells. There was also good availability for undercover parking.

Gilly was brilliant when we dealt with her, she knew her stuff. The staff were friendly, the rooms were clean, and parking was easy to access. The pool was great too. Made for an easy city stay!

I’d stayed at this accommodation before and had reasonable feedback, but this weekend with my family was disappointing. The balcony had only one chair, though I asked reception for another and they brought one up, so thank you for that. There was also a noise complaint. The woman explained the no-party policy, which was fair, and we kept the noise down. About an hour later, the power went out in our room. The outage lasted three hours, though power came back roughly half an hour after maintenance arrived. My guests had to use their phone flashlights to get around, which was frustrating. I called the after-hours number and was told to check the safety box outside the room. I did, but all the switches were on. Maintenance asked how many people were in the room. I explained that my guests were just there for company and weren’t staying the night. The staff said they’d get the power sorted as soon as possible. I assumed the outage affected the whole hotel, so I didn’t check the hallway to see if other guests had the same problem. The Wi-Fi connected but didn’t provide internet access, even though reception had written down the code at check-in. The timing of the outage, after the noise complaint, seemed convenient, and then the Wi-Fi didn’t work either. The whole experience fell short.

It’s an okay, functional hotel if you’re in the Valley on business. For a holiday or a longer stay, I’d pick somewhere nicer. The bed was fine, but nothing special. The TV and cabling were a complete mess and basically a write-off. The air-conditioning was basic, though thankfully it had a quiet mode. I’m not sure how it would be on full blast in midsummer.